We’ve discovered Irwin Terry’s wonderful blog by accident, but were instantly captivated by his passion and dedication to illustrator Edward Gorey. As his works are featured in so many postcards, we invited Irwin to write a post about this famous American artist. :) So tell us Irwin, who was Edward Gorey?
Edward Gorey (1925 – 2000) was an American illustrator, writer and humorist who lived in New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Mr. Gorey wrote and illustrated over 100 books, illustrated hundreds of books for other authors, provided the animation for Mystery! on PBS, and won a Tony Award for the 1979 Broadway production of Dracula. He was also a postcard aficionado, promoter, and a postcard collector. From an early age, Mr. Gorey created and sent interesting correspondence to friends and family, much of which was embellished by hand.
In 1976 he created his first set of postcard images titled The Broken Spoke which appeared in Sports Illustrated and was also published in book form. He went on to create and publish sets of postcards with themes ranging from Neglected Murderesses to Scene de Ballet. From 1984 to 1996, Mr. Gorey created a special annual post card for National Post Card Week. When designing postcards, Edward Gorey took the nom de plume of Dogear Wyrde, one of the many anagram names he created.
Due to his signature style of drawing and amusing images, many of his illustrations have been used as postcard images. Today, the best place to find/purchase Edward Gorey – illustrated postcards is The Edward Gorey House museum in Yarmouthport, MA. The gift shop at the museum sells over 50 different postcard images as well as books of postcards created by Mr. Gorey.
For more information on Mr. Gorey, his postcard images and his work, you can visit my Edward Gorey collecting blog.
18 comments so far
I have 2 postcards from the "Edward Gorey Cats and Dogs" postcards set.
http://www.amazon.com/Edward-Gorey-Cats-Dogs-Postcards/dp/076493385X
If anyone wants them I can do a swap for something related to my favorites
what a nice post this was!!!! Had fun reading. Thank you :)
Love Love Love Edward Gorey!!!!!! Thanks for this blog post!!!
Nice images, but I haven't received a card of his work, maybe in the future on postcrossing. :)
one of my favourites! (:
http://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/DE-787827
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mEPkbh6T3JU/TodIPWK8pkI/AAAAAAAABh0/VHh7pSWETks/s1600/hpqscan0005+%25282%2529.jpg
this is my totalfave !does it come in a postcard ??!!!!
@mairigold: yes! we've seen it a couple of times: http://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/US-1494423
OK I just remembered I also have 2 more Edward Gorey cards for trade besides the one I posted the link to at the top
I have this one
http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0/a6/c/AAAADIxaar8AAAAAAKbI6A.jpg?v=1263584093000
and
http://www.hollanders.com/ServeImage.ashx?ID=fa91b23e-9388-4c16-a629-e84db4a72b49
in addition to the "cats" card I have left (I just sent out the dogs one to a postcrosser)
I, too, am an Edward Gorey fan & have sent many, many of his fanciful postcards. To view my collection -- just log into my wall & check them out.
Thank you Irwin Terry!
Jan (in Edmonds)
Thanx for the sharing! wish i would have the chance to receive his work someday! :)
Thank you for this post! I am familiar with his work but did not know about the museum, which I now want to visit. I have several cards left from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Messages-Conundrums-Anonymous-Postcards/dp/0764955284 - I love it because the images reminded me of Postcrossers sending cards to one another. :) If anyone would like to trade please let me know!
I always laughed at the intro to Mystery! on PBS, and we actually saw the 1979 Broadway production of Dracula. Loved it! Putting the museum on my list of things to do!
It was great to read the post. made my day, thanks!
Thank you for this blog! I will surely add Edward Gorey postcards to my favourites and hope one day I will receive one.
I bought myself a book of his postcards without even knowing who he was. I just love his style of illustration! I bought this book at a museum here in NY
http://www.amazon.com/Postcard-Book-Edward-Gorey-Creatures/dp/B002S4J2IW
My very first Edward Gorey was so special as it was a guy falling off a cliff to catch what looked like a "postcard" with a "dog" looking at him. Since I love dogs and Postcrossing this one was like my theme postcard...
http://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/CA-35895
The first card I sent was that one pictured above on the bottom left - the woman sitting on a post. I don't think it was appreciated - I was thanked, but the image I had loaded was deleted. So, now I'm unsure about sending them again. I have a lot of interesting cards - but there just really aren't any scenic cards of my town (a individual buildings, but that's all), and that's what is most requested.
Thank you for the post! Mr. Gorey is another favorite of mine. The first time I learned about his work was the beginning titles to "mystery" on PBS.